A Washington Post opinion writer condemned President Donald Trump’s characterization of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS) as “a fantastic guy.”
Trump made the comment during a virtual address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, where he said he was asking MBS for $1 trillion in investment money.
“It’s also reported today in the papers that Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America, but I’ll be asking the crown prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to about $1 trillion. And I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them,” Trump said.
Politics professor and Opinion writer for The Washington Post Brian Klaas took to social media to denounce Trump’s praise of MBS.
“On his orders, his henchmen murdered my former colleague and chopped up his body with a bone saw,”
Klaas wrote.
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Klass’ colleague at the Post was US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who disappeared into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Khashoggi, who was once close to the Saudi royal family, became an outspoken critic of the repressive regime, which put a target on his back.
Khashoggi reportedly visited the consulate to obtain a divorce decree, before he could marry his Turkish fiancée. At first, Saudi officials declined any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate, but later admitted, “a preliminary investigation by prosecutors had concluded that the journalist died during a ‘fight’ after resisting attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote in The Washington Post that Khashoggi “was killed in cold blood by a death squad” and “that his murder was premeditated.”
Erdogan said the order to kill Khashoggi “came from the highest levels of the Saudi government,” which the Saudis denied.
Donald Trump reportedly called MBS from the White House in 2018 to ask about the incident and ended up joking with the crown prince about reports that Khashoggi was dismembered with a bone saw.
“I’ve been in difficult negotiations. I’ve never had to take a bone saw,” Trump joked.
A United National investigation concluded that “the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” was responsible for Khashoggi’s death. The report also found “credible evidence” to warrant an investigation into MBS and other high-level Saudi officials.
Watch the clip below or at this link.